Shield fixed over crop conveyor wheel of machine for mowing stalk-like crops

ABSTRACT

A machine for mowing stalk-type crops includes a crop conveyor wheel mounted for rotation about an approximately vertical axis and provided with recesses that are distributed over its circumference and designed as receptacles for plant stalks. A stationary shield is fixed directly above the conveyor wheel and includes an outer region located above an outer portion of the conveyor wheel just inwardly of the recesses of the surface of the conveyor wheel. In order to improve the crop transport and to prevent the loss of corn cobs, the shield is provided with an arcuate cutout located between the outer region and an inner region of the shield, the cutout having an open end located adjacent to the crop flow received by the machine.

This application is a divisional application of application Ser. No.10/078,291, flied Feb. 19, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,190.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention pertains to a machine for mowing stalk-type crops whichcontains a conveyor wheel that can be put into rotation about anapproximately vertical axis and which is provided with recessesdistributed over its circumference and designed as receptacles for plantstalks, wherein a stationary shield that shields a region of theconveyor wheel surface is arranged above the conveyor wheel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A device for mowing stalk-type crops is known from U.S. Pat. No.5,546,737. This device includes coaxially arranged cutting and conveyorwheels that rotate about an approximately vertical axis, with theconveyor wheels being above the cutting wheels and provided with aseries of pocket-like recesses distributed over their circumference. Thecutting wheels rotate and cut off the stalks of the plants to beharvested, for example corn stalks. The conveyor wheels that rotate inopposite directions transport the plants rearward in the pocket-likerecesses. The plants are subsequently removed from the recesses by meansof bow-shaped clearing devices arranged on the upper side of theconveyor wheels and transported to the feed rollers of a field chopper.In the intake region, the clearing devices are arranged at a distancefrom the pocket-like recesses, but extend outward to such an extent inthe delivery region that they press the stalks out of the recesses. Thecutting wheels are equipped with upwardly protruding ribs that serve fordirecting the cut plant stalks inward and holding said stalks within theeffective range of the pocket-like recesses of the conveyor wheels. Theconveyor wheels have a smooth upper side. Except for the clearingdevices, the conveyor wheels are not provided with a shield.

Another mowing device is disclosed in GB 2 012 154 A. This mowing deviceis also composed of cutting wheels and conveyor wheels coaxiallyarranged above the cutting wheels. An upwardly open channel is definedby shields situated above, and adjacent to, the conveyor wheels. Theupright plants are transported rearward through this channel andtransported to the feed rollers of a field chopper. In one embodiment,the conveyor wheels are flat and provided with pocket-like recesses onthe outer circumference. In another embodiment, the conveyor wheelscontain prongs that are distributed over their circumference and thatextend approximately in the radial direction, wherein said prongs arebent rearwardly, opposite to the direction of rotation, overapproximately half their length.

A mowing device with a conveyor wheel that is provided with recesses andwith a stationary shield that is arranged above the conveyor wheel isknown from U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,922. In this case, it is proposed to opena depression in the shield when harvesting whole plant silage and toshield the depression when harvesting corn.

One disadvantage of the described mowing devices can be seen in the factthat plant parts accumulate on the shields of the conveyor wheels andare thus lost. If no shield is provided, corn cobs and other plant partsthat drop from the plant, during the cutting process or transport, fallonto a conveyor wheel and are thrown to the ground by the rotatingconveyor wheel, resulting in the crop parts being lost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided an improvedmachine for mowing stalk-crops, and more particularly there is providedan improved stationary, upper shield for a rotary crop conveyor thatturns about an upright axis.

An object of the invention, is to provide an improved upper shield, asstated above, which is designed for reducing crop loss duringharvesting.

A more specific object of the invention, is to provide an upper shield,as stated in the preceding object, which defines an opening between anouter forward region of the shield, which curves next to the roots ofthe gathering recesses located in the crop conveyor, and an inner regionof the shield, which is mounted over a central part of the cropconveyor.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an upper shield, asset forth in the immediately preceding object, wherein the opening is incommunication with the feed path of the incoming crop material.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an upper shield fora rotary crop conveyor, where the shield is provided with a leadingedge, as considered relative to the direction of rotation of the cropconveyor, to guide crop to the crop feed path.

Another object of the invention is to provide a crop conveyor having aplate-like upper conveyor section having an upper side that is providedwith pocket-like recesses only in the edge region with at least one croptransport element that is designed for transporting away plant parts. Inorder to ensure that the transport element releases the entrained plantparts so as to re-introduce the plant parts into the crop flow, theinvention proposes that the transport element have a rejecting transportbehavior. For this purpose, the transport element may be arranged on theconveyor wheel at a trailing angle relative to the radial direction.

These and other objects will be evident from a reading of the ensuingdescription together with the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The sole FIGURE is a somewhat schematic top view of a machine for mowingstalk-type crops and having stationary shields located over rotary cropconveyors and constructed in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown a machine for mowingstalk-type crops including a main frame 10 supporting right- andleft-hand mowing and conveying or gathering devices 12 and 14,respectively, as considered standing behind the machine and facing inthe direction of forward movement V. The devices 12 and 14 areconstructed in a conventional manner and include three disc-likeconveyor wheels 16, 18, 20 that are spaced vertically, one from anotherand can be put into rotation about a common, approximately vertical axisby means of a drive. Each device 12 and 14 includes a cutting wheel,which is not shown in the figure in order to provide a better overview,mounted beneath, and for rotation together with, the wheels 16, 18, 20.The circumference of the conveyor wheels 16, 18, 20 contains pocket-likerecesses that serve for receiving plant stalks that are cut off byoperation of the cutting wheels. The right-hand conveying and mowingdevice 12 rotates counterclockwise, while the left-hand conveying andmowing device 14 rotates clockwise, as indicated by the arrows. Theseconveying and mowing devices transport the cut plants rearward, oppositethe forward driving direction V. The plants are then removed from theconveyor wheels 16, 18, 20 by means of suitable clearing devices (notshown in the figure) and drawn in by pre-compressing rollers 22 of afield chopper that carries the frame 10. The frame 10 may also supportmore than the two conveying and mowing devices 12, 14 shown. When aplurality of conveying and mowing devices are arranged side by side, thelateral transport of the plants to the pre-compressing rollers 22conventionally takes place along the rear wall of the frame 10 or bymeans of a screw. The conveyor wheels 16, 18, 20 and the cutting wheelsare powered by the prime mover of the field chopper that transports themachine over a field in the forward driving direction V whileharvesting.

A first shield 26 is connected to the frame 10 and is arranged above thetop conveyor wheel 16 of the right-hand conveying and mowing device 12.The shield 26 includes an inner shield region 27, which shields a hub ofthe conveyor wheel 16 and includes an almost semi-circular edge 25. Thehub is supported on the inner shield region 27. In addition, the shield26 includes an arcuate outer shield region 30 arranged above the topconveyor wheel 16 on the front side of the conveying and mowing device12. The arcuate outer shield region 30 terminates at an end 36 situatedabove the side of the conveyor wheel 16 and includes an inner edge 31disposed substantially concentric to the edge 25 of the inner shieldregion 27. The inner shield region 27 and the outer shield region 30 areconnected by a central shield region 28. The central shield region 28includes a leading edge 29 (relative to the direction of rotation of theconveyor wheel 16) which extends outwardly over the radial dimension ofthe conveyor wheel 16, approximately tangentially from the inner shieldregion 27. The leading edge 29 is slightly curved opposite to thedirection of rotation of the conveyor wheel 16. The inner shield region27, the central shield region 28 and the outer shield region 30 arerealized integrally in the embodiment shown; however, they may also berealized in the form of discrete elements.

The inner shield region edge 25 and the inner edge 31 of the outershield region 30 cooperate to define an upwardly open arcuate cutout 32between the inner shield region 27 and the outer shield region 30 (abovethe parts of the conveyor wheel 16 which are not shielded by the centralshield 28). This cutout 32 is concentric to the arcuate edge 25 of theinner shield region 26 and is open on its end that lies downstream asviewed in the direction of rotation of the conveyor wheels 16 and closedon the upstream end. A small vertical gap in which only a few plantparts can accumulate remains between the shield 26 and the upper side ofthe top conveyor wheel 16. The shield regions 27, 28 and 30 arepreferably curved or inclined in such a way that plant parts fallingthereon are able to slide into the cutout 32.

Similarly, a shield 26 is associated with the left-hand conveying andcutting device 14, and includes an inner shield region 27′, an arcuateouter shield region 30′, and a central shield region 28′ that cooperateto define an arcuate, upwardly open cutout 32′ having a downstream endthat is open in the direction of crop flow and a closed upstream end.

In the illustrated embodiment, the outer shield regions 30 and 30′ ofthe right-hand and left-hand conveying and mowing devices 12 and 14 arenot realized symmetrically because the outer shield region 30′ of theleft-hand conveying and mowing device 14 extends beyond the center ofthe feed channel, with the cutout 32′ extending around the inner shieldregion 27′ by an angle of approximately 200° while the central shieldregion 28 of the right conveying and mowing device 12 is smaller thanthe central shield region 28′ and is only mounted on a brace 34 that isdirected in the forward moving direction V and connected to the frame10. The cutout 32, defined by the outer shield 30 and inner shieldregion 27, only surrounds the inner shield region 27 by approximately60°. However, it would also be conceivable to realize the shieldssymmetrically.

Two transport elements 24 which are arranged diametrically opposite eachother and are realized in the form of upwardly protruding ribs, arerespectively arranged on the upper side of each top conveyor wheel 16.These transport elements 24 are arranged in trailing fashion relative tothe radius of the conveyor wheels 16 by an angle of approximately 60°.Thus, the transport elements 24 have a rejecting transport behavior. Thetransport elements 24 extend linearly from the outer edge of a hub 26 ofthe conveyor wheels 16 to almost the outer edge of the conveyor wheels16. The radial dimensions of the cutouts 32 and 32′ correspond to theradial dimensions of the transport elements 24.

The feed and mowing devices 12, 14 according to the invention functionin such a way that the cutting wheels cut off the plant stalks. Theconveyor wheels 16, 18, 20 receive the plant stalks in the pocket-likerecesses distributed over their circumference and transport the plantstalks to the feed rollers 22. If corn cobs or other plant parts falloff, they either drop directly into the cutouts 32, 32′ or onto theshield regions 27-27′, 28-28′, 30-30′, and from there they slide intothe cutouts 32, 32′. The surface of each of the conveyor wheels 16 thentransports the plant parts to the feed rollers 22 with the aid of thetransport elements 24. The outer shield regions 30, 30′ guide the plantparts in the cutouts 32, 32′ and prevent them from being thrown off theconveyor wheel 16 before their re-introduction into the crop flow. Dueto the rejecting transport behavior of the transport elements 24, theplant parts are thrown off the conveyor wheels 16 on the downstream ends36, 36′ of the outer shield regions 30, 30′ and entrained by the flow ofharvested plants. Plant parts that might remain on the conveyor wheels16 are transported outwardly by the leading edges 29, 29′ of the centralshield regions 28, 28′, which act as clearing devices and respectivelyextend from the inner shield regions 27 up to the pocket-like recesseson the edge of the conveyor wheels 16. These plant parts are thendropped into the flow of harvested plants by the conveyor wheels 16 andcan be transported to the pre-compressing rollers 22 and the fieldchopper.

The measures according to the invention result in a machine for mowingstalk-type crops with which the crop transport can be improved. Themachine can also be used for harvesting whole plant silage or storagecorn without requiring modifications.

Having described the preferred embodiment, it will become apparent thatvarious modifications can be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention as defined in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a machine for mowing stalk-type cropsincluding a conveyor wheel mounted for rotation about an approximatelyvertical axis and being provided with recesses that are distributed overits circumference and designed as receptacles for plant stalks, and astationary shield that shields part of the surface of the conveyor wheelbeing fixed directly above the conveyor wheel, the improvementcomprising: said shield having inner and outer regions spaced radiallyfrom each relative to said vertical axis, with said inner region beinglocated centrally above said conveyor wheel; an arc shaped cutout beingformed between said inner and outer regions of said shield; said shieldfurther having a leading edge, as considered relative to a direction ofrotation of said conveyor wheel for introducing crop materials into themachine, extending from said inner region of said shield to a locationabove said circumference of said conveyor wheel, whereby, as saidconveyor wheel rotates past said leading edge, it clears the plant partsthat lie on the conveyor wheel outwardly and re-introduces said plantparts into a crop flow received by the machine.
 2. The machine accordingto claim 1, wherein said shield is shaped in such a way that plant partsfalling thereon are able to slide onto said conveyor wheel.
 3. Themachine according to claim 1, wherein said conveyor wheel has an upperend supported at an under side of said inner region of said shield. 4.The machine according to claim 1, wherein a crop transport element isfixed to an upper surface of said crop transport wheel at a locationdirectly below said cutout, whereby said transport element transportsaway crop parts that fall into said cutout.
 5. The machine according toclaim 4, wherein said transport element is shaped so as to deflect cropparts radially outwardly from said upper surface of said crop transportwheel.